“The clampdown on illegal merchandise is going well. We have started with ecommerce platforms and we are now sending notices," the company said.Jochelle Mendonca | ET Bureau | March 04, 2016, 07:47 IST

Angry Birds maker Rovio has begun a crackdown on illegal merchandise in physical and online stores ahead of the launch of the movie-based on the game in May.

The popular mobile phone game has spawned a host of illegal merchandise vendors.

“The clampdown on illegal merchandise is going well. We have started with ecommerce platforms and we are now sending notices. We want to do this before we launch the new look for the game ahead of the movie,” Anurag Sachdeva, country director India and South Asia at Rovio Entertainment, told ET.

Rovio is already creating new partnerships and a retail sales plan to work together with the movie, which will be launched in English and Hindi across 700 theater screens.

“We have a partnership with Mondelez in India for the movie and we plan to have other partnerships surrounding it. We are also going to launch an online Angry Birds store for India,” said Sachdeva.

Sachdeva said the game, and the Birds, would be updated to reflect the storyline of the movie. And that a new version of the game would follow the movie.

“We started out as a mobile game, that is leading to the movie and the movie will lead to another game. It’s the evolution of the Rovio.”

Rovio has been increasingly focused on monetising its reach in the Indian market. In November, the company struck a carrier-billing deal with Idea Cellular and has ‘sachet’ pricing in India for its games.

There are about 8-million active Angry Birds users in India, the company said. While a viral mobile game and a movie do not seem like much, big money is riding on the companies.

Late last year, Candy Crush-maker King Digital Entertainment agreed to a $5.9-billion acquisition offer from videogame maker Activision Blizzard.